Ovetime claims cripples Govt
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday March 9, 2015 18:00
The Assistant Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration Phillip Makgalemele told parliament on Friday that often supervisors connive with their subordinates to rob the government of millions of Pula in over time claims.
The revelation comes after MP for Selibe-Phikwe West, Dithapelo Keorapetse wanted to know challenges with management of overtime allowances for civil servants.
Keorapetse said there are some civil servants who are owed overtime allowance for one or two years.
Makgalemele said the challenges that the government is facing with the management of overtime claims could be traced back to the recent legislative reforms that did not limit how much public service workers can claim in over time.
“Every public service employee became eligible for payment of overtime. There has been no provision of a cut-off point in terms of eligibility for payment of such pay. This has a serious impact on the wage bill as well as ensuring that the dispensation is managed well,” Makgalemele said.
He explained that the payment of overtime at one and half times and double the employee’s rate is also a challenge as it has raised the bar and the employee rate here goes up and this comes at a cost to government.
Makgalemele said this further compounds the problem of the already high wage bill.
In addition, the assistant minister said the reluctance by most employees to opt to be given days off other than overtime payment is another challenge as it does not contribute to the reduction in the wage bill.
He said employees often challenge the decision by management to apply a 50-50 percent concept.
The assistant minister decried lack of proper supervision from management and failure to enforce overtime payment guidelines as issued by the employer.
“Supervisors/managers are always asked to ensure that their subordinates perform their jobs during the day and only in exceptional circumstances can they authorise overtime. This does not seem to be the case on the ground. Some services often require to be carried out during or over the weekends. This attracts overtime, which is a cost to government,” he said.
Makgalemele said travelling during weekends and public holidays on official duty claim overtime which is double the normal rate and they would now avoid travelling during weekends which shortens the working week.
Meanwhile, Takatokwane MP Ngaka Ngaka requested the minister to address the issue of overtime quickly because the civil servants are complaining that there is a backlog of unpaid overtime.
“If there is a problem with regarding supervision or some trying to cheat the government then some cases would need to be investigated,” Ngaka said.